Why Ryanair is cutting down on major markets like Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Spain
Low-cost airline Ryanair has published its Q3 FY2026 results, with the group posting strong financials on the back of increased passenger numbers and higher fares.
The budget carrier said revenue in the third quarter ended December 31 rose 8.6% to €3.21 billion from €2.96 billion a year prior. However, pretax profit dropped 83% to €24.4 million from €143.7 million.
Other highlights include:
- Traffic grew 6% to 47.5 million.
- Revenue per passenger is up 3% (ave. fare +4% & ancil. rev. +1%).
- Strong cost control with unit costs flat (pre-except. charge).
- Ryanair booked a €85 million provision covering about a third of a fine in Italy. The firm labelled the €256 million fine as ‘baseless’ and is confident it will be overturned. Ryanair
A change in capacity
One notable change is how Ryanair plans to allocate already scarce capacity in the coming months and years to take advantage of slimming margins.
“This winter, we’ve allocated Ryanair’s scarce capacity to regions and airports, cutting aviation taxes and incentivising traffic growth (such as Albania, Italy, Morocco, Slovakia and Sweden) by switching flights and
routes away from high-cost, uncompetitive markets like Austria, Belgium, Germany and regional Spain,” said Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary.
“This trend continues into Summer 2026, with over 106 new routes on sale (incl. three new bases in Rabat, Tirana and Trapani). With seats likely to sell out, we encourage all passengers to book early on www.ryanair.com to grab our lowest fares.”
O’Leary added that he expects European short-haul capacity to remain constrained to at least 2030 as the big two equipment manufacturers remain well behind on aircraft deliveries, Pratt & Whitney engine repair delays continue for many Airbus operators, EU airline consolidation accelerates, and unprofitable airlines withdraw capacity from markets where they are unable to compete with Ryanair’s lower costs.
“Industry capacity constraints, combined with our widening cost advantage, strong balance sheet, low-cost aircraft orderbook and industry-leading ops resilience, will, we believe, facilitate Ryanair’s controlled profitable growth to 300 million passengers per annum by 2034,” he said.
